1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a client-server system composed of plural computers which are connected to a communication network, and more specifically, relates to a method and to a medium for storing programs implementing the method, for restricting client or user access to data stored in a WWW (World Wide Web) server using a WWW browser in a wide area computer network. This application is based on Patent Applications Nos. Hei 9-88548 and Hei 9-355193 filed in Japan, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, data of a WWW server connected to a wide area computer network such as the Internet can be obtained by and displayed for all users (via a WWW browser) who know a descriptive format for specifying an objective page-descriptive file.
In another conventional system, a descriptive file for a page and a relevant data file can be output via an auxiliary program of the server when a password is input. However, in such a system, it has been impossible to restrict a specific client or user to obtain data to be displayed, and to successively perform such a restriction of data reference over plural pages by page-turning operations.
On the other hand, payment of information charges relating to obtained data of a WWW server (as mentioned above) in a wide area computer network requires some troublesome procedures such as purchasing a prepaid card, registering as a member, and transferring funds, or sending a credit-card number via the wide area computer network.